“Talent was not rare; the ability to survive having it was.”
Source: Quicksilver
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Neal Stephenson 167
American science fiction writer 1959Related quotes
“It is a very rare thing for a man of talent to succeed by his talent.”
Part 4, LXXXVIII
Meditations of a Parish Priest (1866)

“The capacity for personal freedom is a rare talent. Talent exists to be used.”
We do not ask sheep to be wolves; we, the wolves, do not ask ourselves to be sheep. Sheep can make such rules as happen to suit them--but it's foolishly naive to expect wolves to obey."
Blade of Tyshalle (2001)

To Barack Obama, as quoted in The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream (2006), Ch. 5
Context: I happen to have a talent for allocating capital. But my ability to use that talent is completely dependent on the society I was born into. If I’d been born into a tribe of hunters, this talent of mine would be pretty worthless. I can’t run very fast. I’m not particularly strong. I’d probably end up as some wild animal’s dinner.
But I was lucky enough to be born in a time and place where society values my talent, and gave me a good education to develop that talent, and set up the laws and the financial system to let me do what I love doing — and make a lot of money doing it. The least I can do is help pay for all that.
“My talent was the uncompromising ability to feel spite.”
Source: Grotesque

“Everybody has talent, but ability takes hard work.”

Profile at North American Bangladesh Info Center http://www.bongoz.com/people/yunus.html